SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

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fragility of the social institution of marriage: for at least some women, the larger issue was that Kansas had institutionalized the possibility of their own individualism. 70
Conclusion Ida Marion Selts, Bertha Holtzgang, and Susanna Sanders Downing were three women who were able to use the liberal divorce laws of Kansas to achieve something of a “victory” out of their divorces. But we must not suppose that such women represented the majority of cases. Judges might complain of women who stood in their courts and told “tales of woe,” but for many women, frequently the ones who were the poorest, those tales were all too real. Indeed, the record at times illuminates, not the possibilities of divorce, but rather all-too-common tragedy for women who lacked the resources to escape from brutality. An extreme case in Riley County, Kansas, demonstrates this reality all too clearly. In the early 1920s, Clara Lee was married to J. M. Lee who was, by everyone’s account, a drunk. Mr. Lee, whom the newspaper openly described as “worthless,” habitually threatened and beat his wife. The police had arrested Mr. Lee on several occasions for drunkenness: indeed his severe addiction to alcohol had led him to the consumption of “Force,” a medicine, or lemon extract, or any other intoxicant he could get his hands on. Neighbors contended that Mr. Lee would steal canned fruit and other goods that had been bought for the home and return them the store in exchange for lemon extract. Mr. Lee’s neighbors told the newspaper that he had once sold a bag of chicken feed in order to use the money to pay for liquor. Due to her husband’s habitual drunkenness, Clara Lee was the sole support of her family which included two young sons. Mrs. Lee brought in money by doing laundry; in order to make ends meet she would do as many as 25 to 30 washings per week. Clearly, her actions made it difficult for Mrs. Lee to support their family when he used the money that she earned from washing to buy alcohol, and his physical 71
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SELFISH INTENTIONS: KANSAS WOMEN AN
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Abstract In the United States, lega
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Table of Contents Acknowledgements.
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Dedication To my Lord and Savior Je
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after five years away from Kansas,
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One other factor is important here.
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law analysis. Riley’s study expla
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CHAPTER 1 - Divorce Law in the Unit
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government regulations focused on t
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What is abundantly clear from the N
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conception of marriage.” 25 It wa
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divorce reflected the changing tren
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Constitution. In his dissenting opi
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family was poor, a legislative divo
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nineteenth century America, divorce
Page 31 and 32:
divorce. They had to have been aban
Page 33 and 34: addition, protected the property ri
Page 35 and 36: presented an opportunity for change
Page 37 and 38: divorce was not unheard of in those
Page 39 and 40: The procedure to file for divorce i
Page 41 and 42: the district courts exclusive juris
Page 43 and 44: Many of the features outlined in th
Page 45 and 46: esidence was where her husband live
Page 47 and 48: years, and that into their large an
Page 49 and 50: active part in the city’s most pr
Page 51 and 52: had availed themselves of the quick
Page 53 and 54: CHAPTER 3 - Concerns about Liberal
Page 55 and 56: would come to Kansas for the sole r
Page 57 and 58: Kansans were concerned about the st
Page 59 and 60: tried within six months of the fili
Page 61 and 62: y default. In a majority of them ar
Page 63 and 64: Breeze dated July 18, 1899, Thompso
Page 65 and 66: grounds used to petition for a divo
Page 67 and 68: marriages. Thus, we are apparently
Page 69 and 70: e accompanied by other flagrant vio
Page 71 and 72: in Kansas, the reporter of this art
Page 73 and 74: equired any divorce plaintiff to st
Page 75 and 76: District Court for a divorce. This
Page 77 and 78: only the right to divorce would ins
Page 79 and 80: using her capital (plus a $70 contr
Page 81 and 82: Downing therefore asked for divorce
Page 83: possibility that one of her sons fr
Page 87 and 88: etween the promise of the law and t
Page 89 and 90: Primary Sources Books Bibliography
Page 91 and 92: Secondary Sources Books Bardaglio,
Page 93 and 94: ________. Untying the Knot: A Study
Page 95 and 96: Gonzales, Deena, “The Widowed Wom
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SELFISH INTENTIONS - K-REx - Kansas State University

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